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The History of the Cast Skeleton of Diplodocus carnegii Hatcher, 1901, at the Museo De La Plata, Argentina
Abstract
Diplodocus carnegii Hatcher, 1901, is a sauropod dinosaur that was originally recovered in the late 19th century in the Upper Jurassic of North America. The large amount of bones recovered permitted the reconstruction of the original skeleton at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America. A series of casts of the specimen were made and donated by Andrew Carnegie to different countries in Europe and Latin America. The cast of D. carnegii mounted in 1912 at the Museo de La Plata was one of the nine replicas donated by Carnegie. The history of the discovery, the trip to Argentina by Carnegie Museum personnel, and the mounting of the cast skeleton are related in this contribution.
... Although Holland had by now grown weary of traveling across the Atlantic each summer to set up yet another Diplodocus cast, he was persuaded to travel to Argentina for that purpose in 1912 (Otero and Gasparini 2014). The request had come from Argentinian President Roque Sáenz Peña via the American ambassador in Buenos Aires, Charles Sherill. ...
Diplodocus is a sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America. It is known around the world primarily because of a single skeleton, that of the Carnegie Diplodocus, because the millionaire industrialist Andrew Carnegie had casts of this specimen mounted in nine prominent cities around the world between 1905 and 1930. As well as these iconic casts, the original fossil material was mounted at the Carnegie Museum (now Carnegie Museum of Natural History) in 1907, and underwent a series of minor changes through the years before a major remount as part of the Carnegie's Dinosaur Hall renovation in 2005-2007. The composition of the original mount was never fully described, and the changes made since the initial mount have not been extensively documented. The bulk of the skeleton consists of bones from the Diplodocus carnegii holotype CM 84. The paratype CM 94, a referred specimen CM 33985, and a specimen of a related species CM 307 all provide additional fossil material. However, significant parts of this mount are casts or sculptures, including the skull, atlas, numerous caudal vertebrae, forelimbs (including forefeet), and most of the left hind limb. The left forelimb and both forefeet used in the original mount were cast from a camarasaurid, and the right forelimb from that of the diplodocine Galeamopus (= "Diplodocus") hayi. The humeri, radii, and ulnae were replaced in the 2007 remount by scaled-up sculptures based on probable diplodocid elements; and the forefeet by scaled-up sculptures of another diplodocine specimen. Numerous divergent length measurements exist for this specimen, but the current mount is about 26.1 m long based on photogrammetric and LIDAR models.
... A pivotal moment in this field occurred in the early 1900s when Andrew Carnegie played a significant role in distributing skeletal mounts and casts of Diplodocus carnegii Hatcher, 1901 (Fig. 1). This distribution included a substantial portion of known skeletal elements from the same dinosaur species, making it a remarkable milestone in paleontological research (Otero & Gasparini, 2014). ...
This contribution presents a detailed methodology for reconstructing the anterior and posterior autopodia (manus and pes elements)
of the sauropod dinosaur Neuquensaurus australis. The study utilizes various techniques, including digital three-dimensional (3D) scanning,
reconstruction, retrodeformation, scaling, texturing, rendering, 3D printing, and mounting, to create accurate representations of the fossil
elements. Two different scanning devices were employed to capture high-resolution 3D models of the fossil elements. The scanned data was
processed to align and fuse the points, resulting in detailed 3D models. Related taxa such as Argyrosaurus superbus and 3D modeling techniques
were used to reconstruct missing elements. Scaling calculations were performed based on comparative analysis with other titanosaurs to
estimate the size of the missing elements. Retrodeformation was applied to correct taphonomic distortion and restore the original shape of
the fossil elements. Texturing and rendering techniques were also employed to enhance the visual quality of the 3D models. The 3D models
were subsequently 3D printed using white polylactic acid (PLA) filament. Creating physical replicas is useful for further studies, educational
purposes, and public outreach. We highlight the advantages of 3D printing in paleontology, such as cost-effectiveness and accessibility, as it
creates accurate replicas without compromising the original fossils. Overall, the presented methodologies demonstrate the potential of 3D
technologies in paleontological research. The combination of scanning, reconstruction, retrodeformation, scaling, texturing, rendering, and 3D
printing provides a comprehensive approach to accurately reconstructing and visualizing fossil elements. These techniques contribute to a
better understanding of extinct vertebrates and their biomechanics.
... The sauropod Diplodocus Marsh, 1878, is one of the most famous dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, and probably the most viewed dinosaur skeleton worldwide thanks, in part, to the widely-distributed sets of casts of the holotype of D. carnegii provided to museums around the globe by American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie (Rea, 2004;Otero and Gasparini, 2014). However, its taxonomic history is prob-lematic, being based on a very fragmentary and incomplete specimen (YPM VP.001920) from a multi-taxa bonebed near Garden Park, Colorado (the Marsh-Felch Quarry), which cannot be reasonably distinguished from any other specimen referred to the genus Diplodocus (Gilmore, 1932;Tschopp and others, 2015;Tschopp and Mateus, 2016). ...
The sauropod dinosaur genus Diplodocus Marsh, 1878, is currently typified by a morphologically undiagnosable type species, D. longus Marsh, 1878. Only two caudal vertebrae and an associated partial chevron of its holotype (Yale Peabody Museum [YPM] VP.001920) remain reasonably complete, but more, fragmentary caudal vertebrae are available, and provide additional morphological information. YPM VP.001920 can be referred to Diplodocus generally, but cannot be distinguished from other Diplodocus species based on autapomorphies. Thus, the genus Diplodocus would have to be considered a nomen dubium. In order to resolve this unsatisfactory taxonomic issue, Tschopp and Mateus (2016) proposed to designate a new type species for the genus Diplodocus: namely, the well-known D. carnegii Hatcher, 1901.Herein, we expand upon historical and taxonomic issues concerning the holotype of D. longus, in order to: (1) provide additional imagery and information on the specimen and (2) to address comments against the replacement of D. longus by D. carnegii as the type species of Diplodocus as proposed by Tschopp and Mateus (2016).
... Con aproximadamente 150 especies válidas y una distribución mundial, Sauropoda comprende a los dinosaurios herbívoros dominantes desde el Jurásico Medio hasta el Cretácico Tardío. Su plan corporal único, caracterizado por su gigantesco tamaño, locomoción graviportal, largos cuello y cola, y cráneos reducidos, hicieron de este grupo un ícono indiscutido en la cultura popular, desde los comienzos de los hallazgos (Sanz, 2007;Otero y Gasparini, 2014). ...
Sauropodomorpha comprende a los dinosaurios herbívoros más abundantes y diversos, con un registro global. En la Argentina su registro es particularmente rico y abundante y sus taxones han dado luz a los hitos más importantes de la historia evolutiva de este grupo de dinosaurios saurisquios. El origen de Sauropodomorpha, la transición hacia Sauropoda, así como la diversificación de Diplodocoidea y Macronaria son, en gran medida, ejemplificados por el registro proveniente de las capas mesozoicas de la Argentina. En esta contribución se presenta el registro actualizado de los géneros válidos de Sauropodomorpha de la Argentina, incluyendo datos sobre la procedencia geográ- fica y estratigráfica y relaciones filogenéticas.
The holotype of Diplodocus carnegii Hatcher, 1901, consists of a partial skeleton (CM 84) that was recovered, along with a second partial skeleton of the same species (CM 94), from the upper 10 m of the Talking Rock facies of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation exposed along Bone Quarry Draw, a tributary of Sheep Creek in Albany County, Wyoming. A composite measured section of the stratigraphic interval exposed adjacent to the quarry indicates that the Brushy Basin Member in this area is a stacked succession of lithofacies consisting of hackly, greenish gray, calcareous mudstone and greenish brown, dense, fine-grained limestone. The more erosion resistant limestone layers can be traced over many hundreds of meters. Thus, these strata do not appear to represent a highly localized deposit such as a stream channel, oxbow lake, or backwater pond. The Sheep Creek succession is interpreted as representing a clastic-dominated lake where high turbidity and sediment influx pro-duced deposition of calcareous mudstone. During drier periods the lake's turbidity decreased and limestone and dolomite precipitation replaced mud deposition. Microkarsting at the top of some limestone/dolomite layers suggests subaerial deposition may have prevailed during these dry episodes. The quarry of D. carnegii was excavated within the top strata of one of the numerous intervals of hackly, greenish gray, calcareous mudstone that represent an ephemeral freshwater lake. The quarry strata are directly overlain by 0.3 m of dolomite-capped limestone that was deposited shortly after interment of D. carnegii in the lake mudstones. The close vertical proximity of the overlying limestone to the skeleton's stratigraphic level suggests that the animal's carcass may have been buried beneath the drying lake deposits during a period of decreased rainfall.
Two major ichnotypes of sauropod trackways have been described: "narrow-gauge," in which both manus and pes prints approach or intersect the trackway midline, and "wide-gauge," in which these prints are well apart from the midline. This gauge disparity could be the result of differences in behavior, body size, or morphology between the respective trackmakers. However, the biomechanics of locomotion in large terrestrial vertebrates suggest that sauropods were probably restricted in locomotor behavior, and the lack of systematic size differences between footprint gauges argues against body-size-related influences. We argue that skeletal morphology is responsible for gauge differences and integrate data from locomotor biomechanics and systematics with the track record to predict the hindlimb morphology of wide-gauge trackmakers. Broader foot stances in large, graviportal animals entail predictable mechanical consequences and hindlimb modifications. These could include outwardly angled femora, offset knee condyles, and a more eccentric femoral midshaft cross-section. A survey of sauropod hindlimb morphology reveals that these features are synapomorphies of titanosaurs, suggesting that they were the makers of widegauge trackways. The temporal and geographic distribution of titanosaurs is consistent with this hypothesis because wide-gauge trackways predominate during the Cretaceous and are found worldwide. Additional appendicular synapomorphies of titanosaurs are interpreted in light of identifying these animals as wide-gauge trackmakers. We suggest that titanosaurs may have used a bipedal stance more frequently than did other sauropods. These correlations between ichnology, biomechanics, and systematics imply that titanosaurs were unique among sauropods in having a more varied repertoire of locomotor habits.
The arrival of a replica of the famous skeleton of Diplodocus donated by Andrew Carnegie to the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid) took place almost a century ago. It constitutes the first and unique skeleton of dinosaur assembled until the eighties of the past century in the Iberian Peninsula. This fact, the circumstances that surrounded their accomplishment, transports and installation, as well as the social and political repercussion that it had at the time, is detailed in the following pages. Besides using photographic documentation and unpublished handwritten documents, it has been collected the abundant references to the skeleton published in the Spanish press, winch served as the link between paleontology and society.
Estimates of locomotory speeds of small to large-sized Patagonian dinosaurs are presented for the first time. These estimates are inferred from trackways found on fine to coarse-grained brown sandstones located in the lower section of the Candeleros Member of the Río Limay Formation (Albian-Cenomanian), Neuquén Province, Argentina. The method used is based on the measurement of the stride length (distance between two successive prints of the same foot) and of the length of the hindfoot print, which in turn, allows us to estimate the height at the hip joint and, therefore, the approximate size of the animal. The hypothesis of dynamic similarity implies that the movements of geometrically similar animals, although of different sizes, are dynamically similar only when they move with the same Froude number. The dynamically similar movements (i.e., those with equal Froude number) require equal values of relative stride length (ratio between the stride length and the hip joint height). The relationship between the relative stride length and the Froude number allows us to estimate the speeds of dinosaurs. The dinosaurian ichnofauna studied reveals low speeds that range from 0.5 to 2.6 m s-1. Our analyses show that the sauropods responsible for these trackways were either walking very slowly in a bipedal stance or alternatively they were progressing quadrupedally on a slippery surface.
Locomotion, activity patterns, and thermoregulation were closely related in the evolution of tetrapods. The short, stocky limbs of the first Carboniferous reptiles suggest that they were not heliophilic and were active in the shaded areas of the coal forests. The first archosaurs retained the sprawling locomotion and possibly the thermal preferences of primitive reptiles. However, by the Mid Triassic large, predatory archosaurs with more erect posture and very gracile, quick-action limbs appeared, and in these animals the metabolic scope and endogenous heat production during activity may have exceeded that of large living monitor lizards. Fully Erect Posture, permitting support of the body free of the ground for long periods of time, appeared in dinosaurs at the end of the Triassic. Dinosaurs probably combined large body size, high body temperature, large hatchling size, and continuous high levels of activity with an efficient aviantype air-sac system for loss of excess heat. Thus dinosaurs could achieve homeothermy in the warm Mesozoic climates. Birds were derived from dinosaurs, and, with the development of feathered insulation, could apply the dinosaurian mechanisms for homeothermy to small body size. Advanced mammal-like reptiles may not have been heliophilic, but specialized in reducing surface area to volume ratios, possibly to conserve heat. In the competition with Triassic archosaurs, the retention of sprawling locomotion and possibly the lack of efficient heat-loss mechanisms in therapsids caused their extinction. However, with the development of superficial insulation of hair and high endogenous heat production, the first mammals could maintain their activity temperatures all through the night and could exploit nocturnality more extensively than nocturnal lizards, while avoiding activity during the day and thus reducing the dangers of overheating and of contact with the large predatory diurnal lizards and dinosaurs. Mesozoic mammals were restricted to small body size partly because of the difficulty of losing excess body heat in a large mammal lacking efficient evaporative cooling, but mostly because mammals were competitively inferior to dinosaurs during the day and were forced to seek secure diurnal shelters in trees and burrows to escape the great reptiles.
In the 169 years since Owen named a tooth as Cardiodon, the study of sauropod dinosaurs has gone through several distinct periods. In the early years, a sequence of descriptions of isolated skeletal elements gave rise to a gradually emerging understanding of the animals that would later be known as sauropods. The second phase began in 1871 with Phillips's description of Cetiosaurus oxoniensis, the first reasonably complete sauropod, and continued with the Marsh-Cope Bone Wars and the description of the nearly complete sauropods Camarasaurus and 'Brontosaurus' (= Apatosaurus). As these and other genera became better known, a third phase began, exploring not just the remains but the lives of these giants, with arguments about posture and habitat to the fore, and with the public becoming increasingly aware of sauropods owing to skeletal mounts. A 'dark age' followed during and after World War II, with sauropods considered uninteresting evolutionary dead ends and largely ignored. This was brought to an end by the 'dinosaur renaissance' that began in the late 1960s, since when work has recommenced with new vigour, and the public has been introduced to a more vigorous and terrestrial image of sauropods through film and television. Both diversity and disparity of sauropods continue to increase through new descriptive work, and the group is now seen as more fascinating and worthy of study than ever before.
The carnivorous Dinosauria form a well-marked order, which the writer has called the Theropoda , in his classification of this group. Although much has been written about these reptiles since Buckland described Megalosaurus in 1824, but little has really been made out in regard to the structure of the skull, and many portions of the skeleton still remain to be determined.
Traditional categories of locomotor habit in mammals are largely based on variables that are continuous in nature, making intermediate forms difficult to evaluate quantitatively. Interpretations of these categories have varied greatly among authors, mainly owing to the inconsistent meanings ascribed to these essentially morphological variables. As a result, it is not clear whether these categories reflect any true locomotor influence, or if they can be applied in any form to non-mammalian taxa. In order to rectify these two difficulties, locomotor categories are rejected here in favour of a multivariate continuum. By basing this continuum on morphological variables that fulfil predictions of limb design under biomechanical theory, it can be tied to limb mechanics and applied to both extant and extinct animals alike. A series of such measurements were taken from a large sample of mammal and dinosaur hindlimb bones, and subjected to statistical testing. Patterns of variation in dinosaurs are similar to those seen in mammals, ranging between extremes traditionally designated as ‘cursorial’ and ‘graviportal’. An evaluation of dinosaur locomotor evolution in light of this continuum suggests that dinosaurs originated as small cursors, but that most lineages acquired a more mid-grade locomotor habit. Large taxa (sauropods, armoured ornithischians) were essentially graviportal, while smaller forms tended towards cursoriality; only coelurosaur theropods developed cursoriality at large body sizes. The discrepancy between large, graviportal herbivores and large, mid-grade to cursorial carnivores in Mesozoic communities argues against pursuit predation as a major influence in dinosaur locomotor evolution.
Dimensions of dinosaur bones and of models of dinosaurs have been used as the basis for calculations designed to throw light on the posture and gaits of dinosaurs.
Estimates of the masses of some dinosaurs, obtained from the volumes of models, are compared with previous estimates. The positions of dinosaurs' centres of mass, derived from models, show that some large quadrupedal dinosaurs supported most of their weight on their hind legs and were probably capable of rearing up on their hind legs.
Distributions of bending moments along the backs of large dinosaurs are derived from measurements on models. The tensions required in epaxial muscles to enable Diplodocus to stand are calculated. It is likely that the long neck of this dinosaur was supported by some structure running through the notches in the neural spines of its cervical and dorsal vertebrae. The nature of this hypothetical structure is discussed.
An attempt is made to reconstruct the walking gait of sauropod dinosaurs, from the pattern of footprints in fossil tracks.
The dimensions of dinosaur leg bones are compared to predictions for mammals of equal body mass, obtained by extrapolation of allometric equations. Their dimensions are also used to calculate a quantity which is used as an indicator of strength in bending. Comparisons with values for modern animals lead to speculations about the athletic performance of dinosaurs.
Estimates of pressures exerted on the ground by the feet of dinosaurs are used in a discussion of the ability of dinosaurs to walk over soft ground.
Current theories of locomotor biomechanics are based largely on observations of extant terrestrial mammals. However, extant mammals are limited with respect to certain aspects of terrestrial locomotion, and this constraint has confounded interpretations of limb design in this group. Dinosaurs include a wide array of large and small bipeds, record several transitions between bipedalism and quadrupedalism, and show a unique covariation of cursoriality and body size. Thus, the wider applications of biomechanical theories may be tested by applying them to the limb bones of dinosaurs. A broad examination of hindlimb and forelimb bone scaling patterns in dinosaurs and mammals reveals several general similarities that provide insight into the general constraints acting on terrestrial locomotion, particularly in animals with parasagittally oriented limbs. Most limb bones scale with negative allometry in these two groups, and larger taxa tend to scale more negatively than smaller forms. However, the strongly negative scaling of large mammals is mostly restricted to ungulates, whose unusually short femora may be the result of constraints of cursoriality at large body sizes. Bipedal and quadrupedal dinosaurs scale very similarly, with most differences apparently resulting from size rather than posture. Bone curvature tends to decrease with increasing body size, while femoral midshaft eccentricity tends to increase. Femoral midshaft eccentricity is explained as a general adaptation to mediolateral bending on parasagittal limb bones. These trends are more pronounced in dinosaurs than mammals; additional morphological constraints present in the dinosaurian hindlimb may contribute to this distinction.
Sauropod natural history has been widely a discussed and sometimes controversial topic. All amphibious theories of sauropod behavior from Cope and Marsh onward may have been inspired by Owen. Sauropod narial morphology might indicate either aquatic or terrestrial habits, and some sauropods may have had a complex narial structure, possibly a proboscis. Sauropods were vegetarians, but the specific diet of Diplodocus is unclear. Long necks could have been used for browsing in trees, or long streambanks, or under water. Sauropod axial appendicular modifications point to primarily terrestrial behavior. Sauropods may have had bird-like lung system. Sauropods sometimes dragged their tails on the ground and may have used for defense. The deep thorax of sauropods is an adaptation to problems of terrestrial weight-bearing. Sauropod foot and limb structure is generally compartable to elephants, except in lack of joint ossification and development of large claws. Sauropods sometimes reared up on their hind limbs, and they definitely entered streams at least sometimes, but sedimentologic evidence does not support immersion in deep lakes as sauropods are frequently pictured. On the problem of terrestrial versus amphibious habits, most sauropod anatomy is equivocal, but where firm morphologic interpretations are possible, they usually point to terrestrial behavior.
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